Brighton

London's seaside, an hour south by train: the Palace Pier, a long pebble beach, the Lanes' little shops and the Royal Pavilion, a Regency palace in an Indian Mughal style which served as a hospital for wounded Indian soldiers in the First World War (the Chattri memorial on the Downs remembers them). The Seven Sisters chalk cliffs are a bus ride east. London Gatwick, with Air India's non-stop from Ahmedabad, is 30 minutes up the line.

Highlights

• The Royal Pavilion
• Brighton Palace Pier
• The Lanes and North Laine
• Seafront promenade
• Seven Sisters cliff walk
• The Chattri memorial to Indian soldiers

Things to do

• Royal PavilionMorning · 2h
• Pier, seafront and the LanesAfternoon · 3h
• Seven Sisters cliff walk from Birling GapMorning · 4h

Tours & tickets

When to go

Best time: May – September

• Bonfire Night · 5 Nov — Fireworks across Britain around 5 November, remembering the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605; Lewes, near Brighton, holds the most famous night of torch-lit processions. Big displays are ticketed; book trains to Lewes early.